Bisphenol A (BPA) is a high production volume compound with a world-wide estimated annual production of over 2 million tons. The demand for this compound is primarily due to its use as a monomer in the production of many high commodity materials such as epoxies and polycarbonates. The general process by which BPA is produced involves the condensation reaction of acetone with two equivalents of phenol in the presence of an acid catalyst or a sulfonated polystyrene resin. This reaction is often performed in an excess of phenol in order to help ensure full condensation. As a result, in a BPA production plant, the product stream comprises the excess phenol that can be separated from the product BPA. The separated phenol comprises an amount of unreacted acetone. This excess unreacted phenol and unreacted acetone can be recovered and either recycled back to the BPA production plant or used for a different process.
There remains a need in the art for a process, which can more efficiently recover acetone from a BPA plant.